Early-stage environmental assessment of chemical processes for safer substitution

The chemical industry is under increasing pressure to transition towards climate neutrality, circularity, and sustainability. This Mistra SafeChem case study explores how early-stage environmental assessment methods can support the development of safer and more sustainable chemicals.

The chemical industry is one of the largest manufacturing sector in the European Union, providing important products and materials to the market. Currently, the chemical industry is facing numerous challenges due to new policy actions, and transition processes are critical to reach climate neutrality, circularity, and more safe and sustainable chemistry. In order to provide a basis for the transition, the focus of this case study was method development to support early environmental impact assessment, prior to production scale-up.

The available Mistra SafeChem sustainability tools were applied, covering the modelling of chemical processes for upscaling, with the generation of (eco)-toxicological parameters, for the chemical of interest including potential breakdown products. The estimated (eco)-toxicological parameters were used as input for LCA to study the scaled process, as well as for scenario-based assessments, with the aim to learn more about the process and technological maturity.

The aim was to investigate whether an alternative chemical and its production are more sustainable than the one it is intended to replace, or if there is a risk of regrettable substitution. However, a comparison of the environmental and (eco)toxicity impacts between the new chemical and the currently used substance was not possible. For future projects, it is recommended to plan this comparison in greater detail, potentially by collecting specific data from the company or companies currently producing the substance.

Read the case study: Environmental assessment in early process scale up Pdf, 7 MB, opens in new window.

Authors

Josefin Neuwirth MSc Eng., Life Cycle Assessment, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

Håkan Fridén PhD, Data Analysis and Process Simulation, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

Nilay Elginoz Kanat PhD, Life Cycle Assessment, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

Hanna Holmquist PhD, Life Cycle Assessment, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

Monika Witala PhD, Safe and Sustainable Chemistry, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

John Berggren MSc Eng., Chemical Engineering, Perstorp AB.

Oleg Pajalic Adj. Prof., Chemical Engineering, Perstorp AB.